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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



would have to be reduced, and each 

 speaker and his listeners would have 

 to occupy a certain space to the ex- 

 clusion of all others. Under these con- 

 ditions a given speaker's demonstra- 

 tion of his power to make himself heard 

 over a distance of many miles would 

 scarcely be looked upon as of practical 

 importance, unless indeed it were seri- 

 ously questioned whether his associates 

 might have the right to restrict the ex- 

 ercise of their vocal powers. The 

 proper field of wireless telegraphy ap- 

 pears to be the overspreading of limited 

 areas, especially areas of water, with 

 telegraphic facilities. 



AS SEEN IN GERMANY. 

 Thosk who wish to know something 

 of the educational (educational in the 

 broadest sense of the word) advantages 

 enjoyed by the eastern United States 

 can not do better than to consult Dr. 

 A. B. Meyer's memoir on the museum 

 of this section. Dr. Meyer came here 

 •in the summer of 1900 to obtain all 

 possible information concerning our 

 museums, their construction, arrange- 

 ment, methods of installation, and the 

 scope of his inquiries was extended to 

 libraries and art museums. The re- 

 sults of his observations are being pub- 

 lished by the Royal Museum of Dres- 

 den and the second part of the memoir, 

 for it amounts to that, has recently 

 been issued and comprises one hundred 

 quarto pages vsdth fifty-nine illustra- 

 tions. It is devoted to the museums, 

 libraries. Art Institute and University 

 of Chicago, and Chicago has every rea- 

 son to feel gratified at the showing 

 made in this paper. At the head of 

 the text stands Chicago's motto ' I will ' 

 (Ich will), and Dr. Meyer has frequent 

 occasion to refer to the energy and 

 creative power of this million-inhabited 

 city, if one may paraphrase the author, 

 of the west. In fact we doubt if many 

 in Chicago, to say nothing of those liv- 

 ing in other portions of the United 

 States, realize the rapid strides she 

 has made in — using the term in its 



widest sense — great educational insti- 

 tutions. Like the former part this 

 gives a brief history of each institu- 

 tion considered, its origin, aims, endow- 

 ment, expenditure, and the methods by 

 which it endeavors to accomplish the 

 desired ends. Then follows a detailed 

 account of the collections, be they of 

 natural history, art or books, with 

 special notice of any original or im- 

 portant device for installation, labeling 

 or cataloguing. As Dr. Meyer is not 

 only a museum director, but one ac- 

 quainted with the mechanical details 

 of the various branches of work, and 

 one who has devoted much time and 

 thought to the construction of cases 

 and methods of installation, he here 

 speaks by the book. 



The illustrations show an exterior 

 view of each of the buildings con- 

 sidered, and noteworthy features of the 

 interior, as well as of special cases and 

 fittings. There are also in most in- 

 stances plans giving the arrangement 

 of the various floors, and sections show- 

 ing special modes of heating or venti- 

 lating, and of the construction of mod- 

 ern iron frame buildings. 



Dr. Meyer considers that the ex- 

 istence of the Field Columbian Museum 

 should stimulate rajther than deter the 

 growth of the collections of the Chi- 

 cago Academy of Sciences, and that not 

 only do these two institutions supple- 

 ment one another, but that two 

 museums are a necessity for a city 

 which like Chicago covers an area of 

 180 square miles. The plans for the 

 Academy of Sciences are well conceived, 

 and it would be well to consider them 

 carefully in the event of erecting a 

 new and permanent building to replace 

 the present Field Columbian Museum. 

 As we all know this was taken for a 

 museum in default of any other avail- 

 able building, and Dr. Meyer may well 

 criticize its halls as being on too large 

 a scale to fit them for the best arrange- 

 ment of a museum. One of the re- 

 sults of this is to bring about a some- 

 what heterogeneous arrangement of the 



